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Monday, June 30, 2014

According to Radio Zamaneh, a student at the Applied Arts University has been arrested by Iran's morality patrol, referred to as an Ershad Patrol.

The Kaleme opposition website reports that campus security tried to prevent the Ershad Patrol from returning to the campus after the student's arrest, and a serious conflict arose between the two groups. The Ershad Patrol reportedly resorted to pepper spray in order to gain access to the campus.

The report indicates that students are now collecting signatures for a petition to be forwarded to the Minister of Education, denouncing the actions of the Ershad Partol.

Kaleme calls the Ershad Patrol's violent reaction unprecedented, and one of the more violent officers involved in the incident has been identified as Hamid Ebrahimi.

The Ershad Patrol, a branch of the Islamic Republic police force, patrols streets and public places and makes arrests for "improper outfits or hijab."

One person was killed and four others were wounded in a shooting at a Los Angeles restaurant on Sunday, police confirmed.

The incident occurred at an East Hollywood restaurant during a party connected with the Black Entertainment Television (BET) awards to be presented Sunday evening to African Americans who have distinguished themselves in the music and entertainment industry.

According to CBS, one person died at the Monalizza restaurant on North Vermont Ave. and two others were taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.

The identities of those involved were not released and early Sunday morning the area was still cordoned off by police and pools of blood were visible on the ground, local media reported.

Los Angeles Police Department officials said that the shootout was the second violent incident linked with the BET awards.

On Saturday evening, a person was stabbed – but not seriously injured – at a pre-show party held at a Hollywood nightspot.

The 14th edition of the BET Awards was to begin at 5 p.m. at the Nokia Theatre and was to be hosted by comedian Chris Rock.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) released the following statement Friday:

“On March 28, 2014, the Director of National Intelligence declassified and disclosed publically that the U.S. government had filed an application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) seeking renewal of the authority to collect telephony metadata in bulk, and that, on March 28, 2014, the FISC renewed that authority. The DNI also announced that the Administration was undertaking a declassification review of the FISC’s March 28th Primary Order.

“On June 20, 2014, the DNI declassified and publically disclosed that the U.S. government had filed an application with the FISC seeking renewal of the authority granted in March to collect telephony metadata in bulk, and that, on June 19, 2014, the FISC renewed that authority. The DNI also announced that the Administration was undertaking a declassification review of the FISC’s June 19th Primary Order and an accompanying Memorandum Opinion.

“Following a declassification review by the Executive Branch, the DNI has released in redacted form the March 28, 2014 Primary Order, signed by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer. Separately, following a declassification review by the Executive Branch, the FISC published in redacted form the June 19, 2014 Primary Order and an accompanying Memorandum Opinion, signed by Judge James B. Zagel, re-authorizing the collection of bulk telephony metadata under Section 215. The most recent authorization expires on September 12, 2014. These Primary Orders and Memorandum Opinion re-affirm that the bulk telephony metadata collection is lawful.

MEXICO CITY – Mexican authorities rescued 39 migrants who were allegedly being held captive at a ranch in the northern state of Sonora and arrested four suspects, the federal Attorney General’s Office said.

The director of the AG’s office’s Criminal Investigations Agency, Tomas Zeron, said intelligence work and the monitoring of drug- and migrant-smuggling routes led authorities to the ranch, located near the U.S.-Mexico border in the municipality of Altar.

In addition to agents in the AG’s office, Mexican army soldiers and state police also took part in operation, which freed 26 Mexicans and 13 foreigners who were trying to reach U.S. soil.

Among the detainees was a man responsible for the ranch who allegedly extorted money from the migrants, demanding payments of up to $7,000.

MEXICO CITY – One Federal Police officer was killed and three others wounded when gunmen ambushed them on a highway in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexican authorities said.

The assault took place around 10:00 a.m. Thursday on the road linking San Fernando and Reynosa, according to a statement from the Tamaulipas Coordination Group, a federal-state law enforcement task force.

Armed men traveling in several pickup trucks intercepted the police vehicle and began shooting.

The wounded officers were flown to a hospital in Monterrey, the largest city in northern Mexico.

The body of the dead officer was taken to the medical examiner’s office in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas’ capital.

Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, has long been the scene of conflict among rival drug cartels and between the gangs and security forces.

The federal government said last month it was deploying more security forces in Tamaulipas and planned to purge law enforcement agencies in an effort to rein-in violence blamed on the Gulf and Los Zetas drug cartels.

Friday, June 27, 2014

"A Mexican law enforcement helicopter crossed approximately 100 yards (100 meters) north into Arizona nearly 8 miles (13 km) southwest of the Village of San Miguel," U.S. border officials in Tucson said. "The incident is currently under investigation." A spokesman for Mexico's federal prosecutor said the incident had "apparently involved an army helicopter" but declined to elaborate. Mexican army officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents some 17,000 border agents, said the shots were fired at a Border Patrol vehicle.

U.S. authorities are investigating two shots that were fired from a Mexican helicopter when it crossed the border into Arizona, although no injuries or damage to U.S. property were reported, the U.S. Border Patrol said on Friday.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in a statement, said the incident took place early on Thursday at the Tohono O'odham Indian Nation reservation in southern Arizona.

"A Mexican law enforcement helicopter crossed approximately 100 yards north into Arizona nearly eight miles southwest of the Village of San Miguel," U.S. border officials in Tucson said.

"The incident is currently under investigation," they added.

A spokesman for Mexico's federal prosecutor said the incident had "apparently involved an army helicopter," but declined to elaborate. Mexican army officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

KOLKATA, India (AP) — A Bengal tiger snatched a man off a fishing boat in eastern India, dragging him away into a mangrove swamp as his children looked on in horror, the man's son said Friday.

The attack happened Thursday as Sushil Manjhi and his son and daughter were crab fishing in a stream in the Sunderbans National Park. The tiger leaped aboard the boat and clamped its jaws on Manjhi's neck, said Sushil's son, Jyotish.

The tiger "quickly flung my father on his back and gave a giant leap before disappearing into the forest," Jyotish said by telephone from his village of Lahiripur in West Bengal state. He said he and his sister tried to beat the animal with sticks and a knife, but the thrashing had no effect. His father was dragged away and was presumed dead.

LIMA – At least nine people died and another three were injured Tuesday after two fishing boats crashed into each other off the coast of the Peruvian port of Pisco, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Lima.

The accident occurred at 1:00 a.m. when the vessels Tasa 147 and Marisol II collided for reasons as yet undetermined, 3 miles north of the Chincha Islands and 15 miles from the port, the navy said in a statement.

The collision caused the Marisol II to capsize with a crew of 15 aboard, of whom three have been rescued alive and nine were drowned.

The harbor master’s office in Pisco immediately dispatched a speedboat to the scene of the accident together with coast guard personnel on ships near the place the shipwreck occurred.

Also sent to the area were three patrol boats, a helicopter with a rescue crew, and a Fokker aircraft with 12 expert divers.

LA PAZ – Eleven people were hurt Thursday when a man authorities described as mentally ill went on a stabbing spree at El Alto International Airport, which serves the Bolivian capital, authorities said.

A police officer stabbed while trying to subdue the attacker also suffered serious injuries, Cardenas said.

The assailant, who was taken into custody shortly after the stabbing rampage, will undergo a psychiatric evaluation, the commander said, adding that the suspect’s initial statements to police were “incoherent.”

The incident took place around 7:30 a.m. in the arrivals area of the terminal, witnesses told media outlets.

MEXICO CITY – Two people were killed and three others, including two children, wounded in three shootings in the cities of Madero and Tampico, both located in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, prosecutors said Thursday.

The first shootout occurred on Wednesday in downtown Ciudad Madero, where gunmen murdered an unidentified man, the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.

Gunmen shot a 44-year-old taxi driver in Tampico, the AG’s office said, adding that two students from a nearby school were wounded by stray shots.

The three victims were transported to a hospital, where they are listed in serious condition and expected to undergo surgery, the AG’s office said.

An unidentified man, estimated to be between 25 and 30, was murdered by gunmen.

The federal government said last month it was deploying more security forces units in Tamaulipas and planned to purge law enforcement agencies in an effort to stop the surge in drug-related violence in the northeastern state.

The Gulf and Los Zetas drug cartels have been fighting for control of Tamaulipas and smuggling routes into the United States for years.

The federal government deployed security forces units in January in the western state of Michoacan and in April in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, to deal with drug-related violence.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

CAIRO (AP) — A prominent Libyan activist who had become an international face of her strife-torn country's efforts to build a democracy was assassinated by gunmen who stormed her home in the restive eastern city of Benghazi shortly after casting her ballot in the country's parliamentary elections, police said Thursday.

The slaying of Salwa Bugaighis stunned residents of her home city, politicians, activists and diplomats, among whom she was well known. International rights groups called on authorities to investigate, something many Libyans believe won't be possible amid widespread fear of militias.

Bugaighis, a lawyer and rights activist, was at the forefront in the 2011 uprising against dictator Moammar Gadhafi. After his ouster, she became one of the most outspoken voices against militiamen and Islamic extremists who have run rampant in the country.

The identity of the gunmen was not immediately known. Islamic radical militias, however, have been blamed for frequent assassinations of secular activists, judges, moderate clerics, policemen and soldiers in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city.

Bugaighis was shot in the head and stabbed multiple times on Wednesday night, just hours after casting her ballot, police spokesman Ibrahim al-Sharaa said. She was rushed to a hospital where she died of her wounds, he said.

Her husband, who is a member of the Benghazi municipal council and was also at home at the time, has disappeared since the attack and is believed to have been abducted, al-Sharaa said.

Earlier in the day, Bugaighis had been speaking by phone from her home on a Libyan TV channel about fighting raging near her neighborhood, sparked when militants attacked army troops deploying to protect polling stations.

Posted on: 25th June, 2014

HRANA News Agency – Leva Khanjani, a Bahai excluded from tertiary education, has been freed from Evin prison after serving most of a two-year sentence.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), she was arrested on January 3, 2010, along with her husband Babak Mobasher, on the pretext that they had participated in street protests following the 2009 elections.
She began serving her sentence in Evin Prison, in Tehran, on August 25, 2012.
Leva Khanjani is granddaughter of Jamaleddin Khanjani, one of seven Bahai facilitators (Yaran) who were sentenced to 20 years in prison after their May 2008 arrest. Her brother Fu’ad Khanjani was sentenced to four years in prison by Tehran Revolutionary Court on January 17, 2012.
Both Jamaleddin and Fu’ad Khanjani are now serving their sentences inside Raja’i Shahr Prison.

BOGOTA – The president of Colombia’s highest administrative court said on Friday that an investigation is under way to determine whether the tribunal has been a victim of cyber-espionage.

“We suspect what has been called a ‘grab,’ or a leak of inappropriate information, so we request the support of the Attorney General’s Office,” the head of the Council of State, Maria Claudia Rojas, told RCN La Radio.

“We hope for results in the shortest possible time because this is very serious,” she said.

Concerns about spying arose after the publication of reports that appeared to have been stolen from the computer of council magistrate Gustavo Gomez, whose portfolio includes the controversial case of Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro.

The mayor, a leftist former guerrilla, was reinstated in April after a court found that his March 19 ouster contravened Colombia’s obligation to honor formal requests from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Petro turned to the commission, a body of the Organization of American States, after losing a battle in Colombian courts against a decision by the Inspector General’s Office to remove him from office for alleged mismanagement.

The IG’s office ruling would also bar the 53-year-old Petro from holding any public post for 15 years.

In the wake of Petro’s reinstatement, the IG’s office asked the Council of State to overturn the April ruling in the mayor’s favor.

BAGHDAD – The Iraqi army said on Thursday it had taken full control of the Baiji refinery, Iraq’s largest petroleum refining complex, and released videos of the facility’s interior.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta showed images from the refinery during a press conference carried by the official Al Iraqiya television network.

The Baiji refinery, located north of Baghdad in Saladin province, is being protected by a special anti-terrorist unit, army troops, police and armed volunteers, Atta said.

Army troops killed three Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leaders near the refinery and destroyed 50 vehicles and five tanks belonging to the insurgents, Atta said.

An activist, however, said the refinery may not be completely under army control.

Nuaman Yasem, an activist who lives in Baiji, told Efe by telephone that the complex was large and different sections were under government and rebel control.

Government forces and ISIS members have been fighting for control of the refinery since mid-June, with both the army and the Sunni insurgents claiming in recent days that the complex was under their control.

The images broadcast by government forces are of the section of the refinery under their control, Yasem said.

Three people have been sentenced to death by a special court in Jeddah after being found guilty of joining Al-Qaeda’s intelligence unit and plotting to target Saudi banks.One defendant was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted of providing another defendant with a sketch of several locations around the US Embassy in Jeddah and mixing with Westerners and Americans with the eventual aim of abducting them.He was also accused of receiving espionage training from the other defendant, harboring the cell leader and adopting a deviant ideology.The second defendant was accused of fighting in Afghanistan without the permission of his guardian, in addition to receiving training at one of Al-Qaeda’s training camps.He was also found guilty of establishing sleeper cells outside of Afghanistan and preparing to carry out terrorist operations in Lebanon and Yemen. He was also convicted of establishing and leading an Al-Qaeda cell in the country.Another defendant, meanwhile, was accused of taking part in the theft of several cars at gunpoint for the purpose of robbing Saudi banks.The money would be used to support the terrorist cell. He was also found guilty of aiding the two other defendants in using explosives and blowing up a bank car park. The lawyer objected to the sentence and asked for a copy of the verdict, the court said.

TIJUANA, Mexico – The suspected leader of the Tijuana drug cartel was arrested in northwestern Mexico, media reports said Tuesday.

Fernando Sanchez Arellano was captured on Monday in Tijuana, a border city located near San Diego, California.

Sanchez Arellano, known as “El Ingeniero” (The Engineer), was detained while watching the Mexico-Croatia World Cup match in Tijuana’s La Mesa district, Mexican media reported, citing state and federal officials.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration identified Fernando Sanchez Arellano in 2009 as a member of a “new generation” of bosses of the Arellano Felix criminal organization.

He is the nephew of Benjamin, Eduardo, Francisco Javier, Francisco Rafael and Ramon Arellano Felix, all of whom have been arrested or killed in recent years.

Benjamin Arellano was arrested in 2002 in Mexico and extradited nine years later to the United States, where he was wanted on drug charges.

The leadership of the cartel, which enjoyed a monopoly over the smuggling of drugs through Tijuana for more than 20 years, began to fall apart following the killing of Ramon Arellano Felix, the criminal organization’s top enforcer, in a shootout in Sinaloa state.

Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, one of the cartel’s other bosses, is serving a life sentence after being captured by the U.S. Coast Guard while fishing in 2006.

Eduardo Arellano Felix was arrested in October 2008 after a shootout with Tijuana police and extradited to the United States.

Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, who was arrested in Mexico in 1993 and extradited to the United States, was released from prison in 2008.

He was gunned down last October at a party in the resort city of Los Cabos.

Fernando Sanchez Arellano’s arrest comes amid a wave of violence in Tijuana, which is in the northwestern state of Baja California.

KHARTOUM: Sudanese authorities re-arrested a Sudanese woman on Tuesday hours after she was freed from death row, and detained her and her family as they tried to board a plane in Khartoum, a security source and her lawyer said.Mariam Yahya Ibrahim, 27, sentenced to death last month for converting to Christianity from Islam, was released on Monday after what the government said was unprecedented international pressure.The security official said he did know the reason for the re-arrest. One of Ibrahim’s lawyers said she was being held at a security building outside the airport with her husband and two children.After the verdict, she was then sent to a secret location for her protection after her family reported receiving threats.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

CARACAS – A police station near Caracas was assaulted by four “heavily armed” criminals, who stole 18 handguns and seven ammunition magazines, an official spokesman told Efe on Monday.

“Four individuals entered the police station... they overcame the officers who were there, beat them, tied them up and took their service weapons along with 16 handguns they found in storage and seven ammunition magazines with 17 bullets each,” Miranda state police press secretary Niumar Oropeza said.

The assailants targeted a police station in San Pedro de Los Altos, at some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Caracas.

“One (police officer) was struck on the head, and the other, besides the blows he received, had a stress-induced breakdown, so both were taken to a clinic in Caracas,” Oropeza said.

Venezuela is one of the countries hit hardest by insecurity and violence which, according to official figures, took the lives of 11,000 people last year.

CAIRO: Vivian Salama, a television and print journalist who has reported on the Middle East for over a decade, has been named as Baghdad bureau chief for The Associated Press.The appointment was announced by Ian Phillips, AP's Middle East news director based in Cairo.Salama, 34, succeeds Adam Schreck, who is now based in Dubai and oversees AP coverage of the Gulf countries as well as Iran. Salama will be the senior reporter and will lead a team of reporters, photographers, video journalists and support staff covering Iraq."The AP is one of the few international news organizations to have maintained a continuous presence in Iraq before and after the US occupation," said John Daniszewski, vice president and senior managing editor for international news in New York. "With Iraq again front and center in the news, Salama is a serious student of the region and her expertise will inform AP's reporting as the drama continues.""She is an accomplished journalist who will write with authority about the challenges facing Iraq and who understands the power of visual storytelling," said Phillips.Salama, who speaks Arabic and holds a master's degree in Middle East and Islamic Studies from Columbia University, has covered major stories overseas including Egypt's historic presidential election, the resurgence of violence in Iraq and drone deaths in Yemen.She begins her new position in Iraq at a critical time for the country as security unravels nearly three years after the US military withdrew. Sunni militants have overrun several cities in northwestern Iraq near Syria, hoping to exploit the chaos to link territories they control on both sides of the border.

IZVARINO, Ukraine: Ukraine pressed German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other Western allies on Monday to help end a pro-Russian uprising that has continued to rage in the industrial east despite Kiev’s unilateral cease-fire.President Petro Poroshenko conducted another furious round of telephone diplomacy while his top diplomat prepared to outline the details of Kiev’s new peace plan to EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.Poroshenko will also sign an historic EU trade pact on Friday that crowns his May 25 election promise to make the decisive move westward — a move that is strongly opposed by Russia and lies at the heart of the current crisis.The new president’s high-stakes peace push envisions talks with eastern representatives but not rebel leaders — a condition that Russian President Vladimir Putin says will not help end the 11-week revolt.Putin threw his weight behind Poroshenko’s plan over the weekend provided it also leads to constitutional changes granting better protections to ethnic Russians who remain wary of the new government Kiev.Russia further insisted on Monday that the week-long cease-fire Poroshenko ordered last week be extended over the long term.Insurgent commanders have ignored Poroshenko’s overtures and continued waging their campaign to gain independence and eventually join Russia — a drive thus fur resisted by the Kremlin.Reporters near the Russian border saw rebels push back and in some cases encircle government soldiers dispatched by Poroshenko to stem the flow of weapons and gunmen into the conflict zone.

Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas - The evolution of about 1:30 pm in the afternoon 2 people were executed in this capital city by armed men riding in a car.

The incident occurred in the Peace Avenue in front of the car swap meet this avenue is located off of Reynosa. According to the information gathered about a young man of about 20 to 25 years, and a man, presumably both car dealers at this flea market. According to witnesses subjects arrived at the scene and began firing his high-powered weapons against victims who were already identified, fled the scene immediately afterwards, the young reach to run but remained depressed meters ahead, the man stayed lying on the ground.

The man in the ambulance still had vital signs so he was taken to hospital for treatment, his current health status is unknown. All federal police arrived, the motive for the attack is unknown.

MORELIA, Mexico – One of the sons of Caballeros Templarios drug cartel boss Servando Gomez Martinez was arrested in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, officials said.

Huber Gomez Patiño was arrested in the city of Arteaga on Saturday, the Government Secretariat, Defense Secretariat, Navy Secretariat and Attorney General’s Office said in a joint statement.

The 22-year-old suspect tried to flee after spotting federal law enforcement agents and was captured, federal officials said.

Gomez Patiño, who was armed, told the officers he was Gomez Martinez’s son and threatened to have them killed if they did not release him, the federal agencies said.

The suspect faces firearms and drug charges, officials said, adding that he was turned over to federal prosecutors.

Servando Gomez Martinez took over the Caballeros Templarios cartel’s leadership earlier this year.

Federal security forces killed the cartel’s two top leaders, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez and Enrique Plancarte Solis, in February and March, respectively.

Moreno and other members of the Familia Michoacana gang formed the Caballeros Templarios organization after he was reported killed by the government in 2010.

The Caballeros Templarios cartel, which deals in both synthetic and natural drugs, commits murders, stages kidnappings and runs extortion rackets that target business owners and transport companies in Michoacan.

The cartel uses Michoacan’s 270 kilometers (168 miles) of coastline to smuggle chemical drug precursors for the production of synthetic drugs into Mexico.

The federal government is offering a reward of 30 million pesos (about $2.3 million) for information leading to Gomez Martinez’s arrest.

State officials, meanwhile, said Jose Manuel Chacon, a hitman on the cartel’s payroll, was arrested in the upscale Chapultepec district of Morelia, the capital of Michoacan

TEHRAN: Female fans and even women journalists will not be allowed to attend a World League volleyball match between Iran and Italy in Tehran Sunday, the official IRNA news agency reported.Women were reportedly turned away from the Azadi Stadium when Iran played Italy in the first leg on Friday, while female reporters inside the complex were ordered to leave.“Female journalists are banned from entering the stadium for the next three matches in Tehran,” IRNA reported.Placed in the difficult Group A, Iran has already hosted Brazil in Tehran, as well as one game against Italy. Two more games are planned in the Azadi Stadium that can hold 12,000 spectators, against Poland on June 27 and 29.According to the Khabaronline news website, authorities had confronted female journalists holding proper press credentials issued by Iran’s National Volleyball Federation on Friday, and ordered them out.A small group of female fans protested outside, and journalist Fatemeh Jamalpour of the reformist Shargh daily said they were detained by the authorities.Jamalpour was also taken into custody and held for six hours, she said on her Facebook page.Since Iran started playing in the World League, only once — in 2013 — have Iranian women been allowed to attend the game. Since then, however, female journalists had been allowed to cover the games.

BEIJING – At least 13 people died on Saturday in a new attack on a police station in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang, where tensions between the Communist regime and extremist Muslim groups have increased over the past few months.

According to the official news agency Xinhua citing local authorities, the 13 dead were part of a group of assailants gunned down by security forces, while three police officers suffered slight wounds in the clash.

The same sources said that no civilians were killed or wounded in the attack.

For its part, local media reported that a truck crashed into the police station in the city of Yecheng in the southern part of Xinjiang province, and that those riding in it detonated several explosive devices before they were brought down by security forces.

The Xinjiang autonomous region remains a scene of violence in China after decades of conflict between the Uygurs and the majority Han ethnicity.

Beijing says there are extremist groups in this region, many headed by Uygurs, who demand independence for this territory under the name of East Turkestan.

For their part, Uygur groups in exile complain that Beijing uses accusations of terrorism as an excuse to repress their religion and culture, and say that the recent increase of ethnic clashes is due to the “persistent” violation of their human rights.

Over the past five years the number of victims related to clashes between the authorities and these groups or from terrorist attacks stands at around 400.

One of the worst attacks was launched last May 22 when two vehicles ran over people at a crowded street market in the town of Urumqi, capital of the region, leaving 39 dead and almost 100 injured.

In recent months, some attacks have also occurred outside the region, something unprecedented up to now, which has spurred Chinese authorities to roll out an antiterrorist campaign and to heighten surveillance around the country

CAIRO – The criminal court of Minya in southern Egypt on Saturday sentenced to death 183 alleged followers of the Muslim Brotherhood, including its leader Mohammed Badie, for disturbances and acts of violence in that province last August.

According to the state news agency MENA, another 496 out of a total 683 accused were pardoned, while four people received life sentences.

Around 120 of the accused are in custody for the premeditated murder of a police officer, while the rest were sentenced for rebellion.

Judicial sources told Efe that the accused who are being tried in absentia face harsher sentences, which can later be revised if they finally show up in court.

The defendants found guilty were charged with homicide, attempted murder, robbery, use of deadly force, mob attacks on public installations, arson and unlicensed possession of firearms.

The court, presided by controversial Judge Said Youssef, handed down the final verdict after receiving the non-binding opinion of Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawqi Alam, to whom he sent a previous verdict with 683 death sentences last April to seek his guidance, as is mandatory under Egyptian law.

People close to those on trial, waiting at the courthouse door, were astonished by the sentences and confused by the different versions offered by the defendants’ lawyers after the trial, eyewitnesses told Efe.

The incidents go back to last August when a wave of violence shook the village of al-Adwa in Minya province, after the dismantling of camps in the Cairo squares of Rabaa El-Adawiya and Nahda where the Islamists had gathered to protest the military ouster of Mohamed Morsi.

LAHORE, Pakistan: A 21-year-old woman was raped and hanged from a tree in Pakistan, police said, in a case bearing a chilling resemblance to a spate of recent sex crimes that sparked outrage in neighboring India.The woman’s boyfriend of six months, named by police as Muhammad Saqib, was taken into custody after he confessed to the rape and murder.Saqib admitted he tried to force the woman — the daughter of blind parents — to have sex with two of his friends, according to police. When she refused, investigators said the pair argued.The woman, whom he allegedly had promised to marry, was found hanging from a tree the next morning.Police are still looking for the two alleged accomplices.“The incident occurred in Layyah district (in Punjab province) on Thursday night and was reported to the police on Friday when the local people saw a woman hanging from a tree,” senior police official Ghazi Salahudin told AFP.He said the woman was raped and strangled to death, and then her body was hanged to make it look like a suicide.“But the branch was so low and the dead body was touching the ground in sitting position,” he said.The woman was the eldest of eight siblings and made a living by farming a small piece of land.The incident has disturbing similarities to an attack in India last month, in which two teenage girls were found gang-raped and hanged from a mango tree in northern Uttar Pradesh state.That attack sparked protests over police apathy, and was the latest to highlight India’s dismal record on preventing sexual violence. Similar headline-making cases since then have piled pressure on the authorities there.Pakistani police said Saqib had met the woman after he visited her house in his role as an assistant at a vegetable wholesale shop. They allegedly had been in a relationship for about six months.A day before the murder, police said, Saqib had brought the woman for a date in the shop where he worked. He took her to the roof, where two of his friends were waiting.When Saqib tried to persuade the woman to have sex with all three of them, she resisted, according to police.She was then allegedly raped and killed. Police said Saqib had confessed to the attack, adding that they were still investigating if the woman had been raped by the other men as well.Though the issues of rape, sexual assault and domestic violence are not as high-profile in Pakistan as they have been in India in recent years, they are widespread in the deeply conservative country.In March, a 17-year-old Pakistani victim of a gang-rape died after self-immolating in protest at a police decision to turn a key suspect free.wh-ga/st/ac

RAMALLAH, West Bank: Israeli troops killed two Palestinians on Sunday, Palestinian medics and a militant group said, as Israel pressed on with its crackdown on Hamas, the Islamist group it accuses of abducting three Israeli teens.Soldiers entered several Palestinian cities and villages in the occupied West Bank, rounding up six suspected militants, the Israeli military said.Israel has said its West Bank operation is twofold — to find Gil-Ad Shaer and US-Israeli national Naftali Fraenkel, both aged 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19, who went missing near an Israeli settlement on June 13, and to deal a substantial blow to Hamas.Hamas, sworn to Israel’s destruction, has neither denied nor confirmed involvement in the disappearance of the youths.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in public remarks to his cabinet on Sunday, said Israel had conveyed its evidence against Hamas to several countries and would soon make it public. He defended Israel’s military action in the West Bank.“We have no intention of hurting anyone maliciously, but our forces are behaving in the manner necessary for their self-defense and occasionally there are fatalities or wounded on the Palestinian side,” Netanyahu said.The military has so far searched some 1,350 sites in the West Bank and detained more than 330 Palestinians. The raids have triggered street clashes in which four Palestinians have been killed.During a raid in the city of Nablus, Israeli soldiers fired at stone-throwing Palestinians, killing Ahmad Famawi, 26, residents and medics said.The military said its soldiers fired at a suspect who approached them without responding to calls to stop. The incident is being investigated, it said, though an “initial inquiry suggests the suspect was mentally unstable.”In Ramallah, the Islamic Jihad militant group said one of its members was killed by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military said it was “not familiar” with the incident.

Abbas challenges NetanyahuThe crisis has put pressure on a unity pact between Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and rival Hamas.Abbas has condemned the abduction of the three Israelis, and his security forces have been helping in the search. But he has also called the Israeli sweeps collective punishment.Abbas’s security cooperation with Israel touched off a rare protest against Palestinian police in Ramallah, the seat of his government, on Sunday.Chanting “collaborators,” dozens of people hurled rocks at a police station and damaged three police cars when policemen remained inside the building rather than joining protesters in confronting Israeli troops who entered the city, witnesses said.In an interview with Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Abbas said he had no credible information Hamas was behind the kidnappings.“I do not intend to punish anyone based off suspicions or because Netanyahu claims something. When Netanyahu has such information, he needs to update me and we will take care of the matter according to our own laws,” he said.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

ATLANTA – The number of workers at U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who could have been exposed to anthrax has risen to 84, nine more than originally reported, the Atlanta-based federal agency said Friday.

“We have moved quickly to identify those who could have been exposed and they are being treated. Up to now, 84 have been identified as probably exposed,” CDC spokesperson Belsie Gonzalez told Efe.

Gonzalez said there were two other cases of possible contact that have not yet been confirmed.

The workers could have been infected due to the mismanagement of live biological material at one of the CDC laboratories.

The agency said it is observing closely the workers who might have been infected and has treated them to minimize the risk of complications.

While the incident is still under investigation, authorities say the employees would have been exposed to anthrax while handling samples of live material that had not been inactivated correctly.

The workers thought the samples were inactivated and did not use the equipment for personal protection required in such cases, the CDC said.

Authorities do not believe that people outside the agency are at any risk of anthrax infection.

Anthrax can infect the skin, lungs and digestive system of those who come in contact with the substance and is considered one of the most dangerous resources of biological terrorism.

The accidental exposure was discovered on June 13 when the original bacteria samples were collected to discard as trash and traces of live bacteria were detected that had been distributed among several CDC laboratories.

RAMADI: Clashes with Sunni militants have killed 34 Iraqi security forces members in Al-Qaim, a town on the Syrian border, officials said Friday.The fighting broke out late Thursday night and continued until around noon Friday, with militants in control of most of the town, security forces officers and a local official said. The identity of the militants was not immediately clear.But the official, Farhan Farhan, appealed to the government for arms “stronger than the weapons that ISIL has,” a reference to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.Witnesses said families had begun to flee Al-Qaim.

HEBRON: Israeli soldiers killed a 14-year-old Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Friday as they pressed a crackdown on Hamas in their search for three missing teenagers.Troops also wounded two Palestinians in a refugee camp just outside Jerusalem, medical sources said, as clashes flared during the massive military operation in which forces have detained 330 Palestinians over the past week.Israel accuses Hamas of kidnapping two 16-year-olds and a 19-year-old who went missing at a hitch-hiking stop in the West Bank, an allegation the group has dismissed.But Israel seized on the opportunity to drive a wedge between Hamas and the Palestinian leadership, who formed a merged administration for the West Bank and Gaza Strip just this month for the first time in seven years.Palestinian security and medical sources said 14-year-old Mohammed Dudin was shot in the chest in a clash that erupted after Israeli soldiers arrived to conduct arrests in the village of Dura, south of the West Bank city of Hebron.Dudin was taken to the Alia hospital in Hebron, where he was later pronounced dead.The army said villagers had thrown stones and Molotov cocktails at troops on an arrest mission in Dura, and that soldiers had responded with live fire.A spokeswoman told AFP the army was examining the reports of Dudin’s death. In Qalandia refugee camp just north of Jerusalem, troops shot and wounded two young Palestinians, medics said.Mustafa Aslan, 20, was in critical condition at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem while Mohammed Shehada, 21, was being treated in the West Bank city of Ramallah.Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah — the head of the new unity government appointed on June 2 — attended the Friday prayers in Hebron, but the army prevented him from attending Dudin’s burial in Dura.Hamas has lashed out at the Palestinian leadership for its decision to maintain security coordination with Israel despite the massive wave of searches and arrests.Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki accused Israel of an “exaggerated” response, and questioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that Hamas was behind the abduction. “He cannot keep blaming one side without showing evidence,” Malki told AFP.“Three kids have disappeared, but in exchange for that the Israeli army has taken 300 Palestinians,” he said. “Their reaction went beyond logic.”Malki added, however, that “if it comes to be known that Hamas is behind it (the kidnapping), then of course the unity government will be at risk.”Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said, meanwhile, that Israel’s “working assumption” was that “the abductees are alive, until proven otherwise.”Israeli troops also carried out search and arrest operations overnight in the Dheisheh refugee camp, near Bethlehem, and in Arura, north of Ramallah, “detaining some 25 suspects and searching approximately 200 locations,” the army said.Since the start of the operation last week, troops have “scanned about 1,150 locations in search for the abducted boys and for terror elements.”

Friday, June 20, 2014

Posted on: 18th June, 2014

HRANA News Agency – 80 Sunni prisoners of conscience in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj began a hunger strike yesterday in support of four Sunni prisoners who are in danger of imminent execution.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), in a leaked message from the prison, the Sunni prisoners released the following statement:
“We, the Sunni prisoners of conscience in Rajai Shahr Prison, announce that the vast majority of us declare our own hunger strike from today, 16 June 2014, in support of our four brothers who are in Karaj’s Ghezel Hesar Prison on the eve of their [scheduled] execution and in solidarity with their families’ protest. We will continue our strike until their executions are stopped and sentences revoked.”

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama confirmed on Tuesday that he authorized the operation in Libya to capture one of the men suspected in the deadly September 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and vowed that the prisoner “will now face the full weight of the American justice system.”

The apprehension of Ahmed Abu Khatallah “is a testament to the painstaking efforts of our military, law enforcement, and intelligence personnel,” the president said in a statement.

“With this operation, the United States has once again demonstrated that we will do whatever it takes to see that justice is done when people harm Americans,” Obama said.

The Pentagon said earlier Tuesday that a joint operation of military Special Forces and FBI agents captured Khatallah, reputed leader of the Islamic terrorist organization Ansar al-Shariah, in eastern Libya.

U.S. investigators suspect Khatallah led the Sept. 12, 2012, attack against the consulate in Benghazi.

Washington’s ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, was killed in the strike along with a State Department security officer and two CIA contractors.

The president promised to keep working to bring the rest of the Benghazi attackers to justice.

“We will remain vigilant against all acts of terrorism, and we will continue to prioritize the protection of our service-members and civilians overseas,” he said.

Obama, who had been harshly criticized by the Republican opposition for making no headway in catching those guilty of the attack, said he had always made it a “priority to find and bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of four brave Americans.”

GENEVA – The United Nations’ refugee agency on Friday described the situation in Iraq as “chaotic,” saying it has not been able to reach or help tens of thousands of people who are internally displaced and fears that number will increase as the conflict spreads.

“The situation is chaotic,” Adrian Edwards, the spokesman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, said of the crisis in Iraq, where several conflicts are raging at the same time.

The United Nations continues to give a figure of 500,000 people internally displaced as a result of this month’s seizure of the northern city of Mosul by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a jihadist group linked to Al Qaeda, and its allies.

Concurrently, humanitarian agencies must attend to another half-million people forcibly displaced by the conflict in the western province of Al-Anbar that predates ISIS’ uprising over the past two weeks.

Edwards said the UNHCR is “very concerned” because the fighting is causing more displacement, noting that humanitarian agencies are already overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who have fled and are unable to reach many others due to lack of security.

Neither the UNHCR, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs nor the International Organization for Migration can say how many of the internally displaced lack access to international aid, nor give their precise location, but they believe they number more than 100,000.

“The ongoing conflict and the extremely volatile environment is likely to limit humanitarian access to thousands of displaced people in areas controlled by armed groups,” Jacqueline Badcock, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, said in a statement Friday.

The OCHA’s spokesman, Jens Laerke, said that for the moment no talks have been held with ISIS leaders requesting access to the internally displaced.

The situation is complicated further because many of the displaced are constantly on the move.An additional major concern is the threat of outbreaks of infectious diseases due to high temperatures and the lack of sanitation, hygiene and potable water in many of the areas where the displaced have taken refuge, Fadela Chaib, spokesperson for the World Health Organization, said.

Iraqi officials contend that ISIS is solely responsible for the offensive in the northern part of the country, but other Sunni militant groups opposed to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki are backing the jihadist movement.

The rebels are holding Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the capital of Nineveh province, and trying to advance on Baghdad.